Populate THE HUNT FOR TIRA | TSC POPULATE OF EUFORNIS MAJOR

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: Jedha

Equipment:
Apprentice Attire | Lightsaber | Shoto | Cybernetic Arm

Somewhere between one breath and the next, the cold seemed to soften. The air felt warmer, touched by a breeze that had no place beneath Jedha. When Ace turned the corner, Fatine von Ascania was sat perched atop a fallen block of stone as though ancient ruins had become a stage she had casually claimed, one foot swinging idly as she passed the time. When she noticed him, she brightened at once.

"Ohmystars." She said, a grin tugging at her mouth. "You look awful."

Against his will, something in him almost gave way, but he said nothing. Fatine wrinkled her nose in faint frustration and hopped down lightly. She circled him once, inspecting him with theatrical suspicion, her gaze dragging over him as if she were trying to piece together what had changed.

"Have they been feeding you at all?" She asked. "You look all severe and haunted." There was a brief pause before she added, more quietly: "…more haunted."

Her hand lifted almost without thought, brushing a trace of dust from his shoulder, and she lingered there for a moment longer than necessary.

"You've gotten even worse at resting."

Ace watched her warily, in a way he had not watched the others. "You're not real."

Fatine tilted her head slightly, studying him in return. "Does that help?"

He didn't answer, and something in his silence seemed to confirm whatever she had been thinking. The brightness in her expression didn't disappear, but it dimmed, softening into something more uncertain.

"Can I ask you something?" She said. "Sometimes…" She glanced away, as though uncertain whether she wanted to finish the thought, before forcing herself back to him. "Sometimes I wonder if this is who you really are when I'm not with you."

A small, uneasy laugh escaped her.

"Which is a dreadful thought, really."

Ace's jaw tightened, and he looked away. Fatine's expression pinched slightly in response.

"Don't do that thing where you disappear while standing right in front of me..." She said, though there was a quiet insistence beneath it.

Then she stepped closer.

"I miss when you smiled. You used to do it more."

The silence that followed felt heavier than anything the ruins had offered so far. The playfulness in her expression gave way to something sadder, something she was no longer trying to disguise.

"I'm not just frightened you'll die doing this, Acier." She said, fingers brushing lightly against his sleeve. "I'm frightened you'll live through it too."

Something in his chest pulled tight, and she seemed to feel it, even if she could not name it.

"You keep giving pieces of yourself away like there will still be enough left for me when this is over." She shook her head faintly. "That's a stupid plan."

He had no answer. Fatine searched his face for a long moment, and whatever she found there made something in her expression falter. Then, as if trying to recover some fragment of her earlier lightness, she drew a breath and gave the smallest hint of a smile.

"When this ends… will there still be enough of you to come back to me?"

Ace reached toward her but the light shifted. She was gone. Only warmth remained where she had stood, lingering faintly in the air. And for the first time since entering the ruins, Ace found that he did not want to keep walking.​

 

[Mellia Raine]

Anet Raine​

Ah. Of course.

Mellia Raine pulled her coat closer to herself while she followed after Anet, careful to take note of the skin-prickle sensations on offer for her. She had a sense for the darkness in the hearts of men, their insecurities and ambitions - but there was an intensity here that unsettled her. Both Anet and the planet itself felt tainted to her. Poisonous, like rot left to spread out from a wound.

Of course, she was no saint. With the senses offered by her mask, Anet could see that now - there was a flower of darkness about the wayward Raine sister, half-bloomed and bristling with directionless malice.

It wouldn't have come as a surprise to Mell that her sister was working with the Sith; they had money, after all, and power, and all of the dark, eccentric aesthetics that she knew her Anet to have a soft spot for. But that she had joined them, as Mellia was now almost certain? She had no right to judge anyone for their vices, she knew that - but at least she hadn't made a religion out of hers.

"You're the expert, Anet. Will you let me know why you're here, at least?"

 

[Nilira Vornix]

Tag: Arris Windrun

"Factually incorrect. Like always."

A small smirk flickered on Nilira's face at that, a somewhat rare expression on her face. Shaking her head ever so slightly afterwards as she glanced back over towards Arris.

"There are plenty of pests that enjoy the taste of metal. Whether or not they're here...Who knows?...Oh. What's that by you foot by the way?"

Her finger flicked off towards the side, mostly in a whole attempt to make Arris look. For some strange reason, the Acolyte seemed to be in a better mood than she normally was. And by better mood, she wasn't moving around like a typical walking corpse. Her gaze flicked over towards the top of the chamber after that, frowning as the daylight was coming through. This was far bigger than Nilira would have expected...but that just meant there would be plenty of secrets kept here.

"It's likely they'll keep most Force-attuned items, or any core information deeper below. Yes."

And then the stairs folded in. Almost immediately, Nilira put her new education to good use, as she reached her hand out to hold onto the pillar of the spiral staircase for a moment, using it to help her slide down the staircase, using the Art of Movement. All in aid to make her slide down the stairs even more elegant and refined, a small smirk coming to her face. Even in death, it seemed like Vestra had been an exqusite teacher for the Acolyte as she ended up jumping up and over Arris on her way down, turning her head back to look at the Cyborg, the Acolyte's smirk turned into a full on grin

"I'll meet you down there!"

With that, she continued to slide on down the staircase, sliding down the sides whilst adjusting her balance every so often. The Force was her tool to use. It was what allowed her to have a somewhat equal footing like she did now. There was so much more she could learn from within here...

​

 

[Lirka Ka]

TAGS: Kaelyr

The sounds of rancorous violence now filled the halls. Lirka posited that it could have ended no other way - a congregation of Sith inevitably ended in conflict of some form or fashion. For a moment ever so brief she considered slipping through the chaos and plucking out that which she desired…but people did not much care for slithering and slimy things, and for now the potentiality of useful variables remained clustered in this place.

Instead Lirka knew it was time to join in the melee - listening to the chaos around she let her senses guide her to that which sounded oddest. The monsters held within this place posed as something worth consideration in her research once she’d have the chance to mull through the carrion.

Kaelyr would be gifted with a sight most strange as the thunderous metal slamming of Lirka’s approach echoed through the halls. A metal slab of a powersuit around her wretched form as the Once-Sephi broke into a savage sprint: his brawl had ended up being the one to draw her attention more than the rest. Then, with a sudden burst the metal goliath flung herself at the hulking mound before the pair. The bizarre alien machete at her side fizzing and crackling with gleaming Electro-Plasma Filament as she dug her blade into the false-meat of the beast.

Big Game was nothing new to hear. She rather enjoyed the challenge of laying such a beast low - and now the question became if she had stuck her neck out foolishly for this unknown variable before her, or if the newest of opportunity presented itself.

​

​

 

[Tamsin Starfall]

Theme: Welcome To The Jungle
Tags: Varin Mortifer

She charged forward towards the rancor rider. She didn't even notice the rancor coming in for a swipe at her. Her focus was set, her mind had one goal in mind to drive the rider towards the wall as Varin had shouted. Her speed became a blur as the force began to pump into her muscles, accelerating her forward faster. She briefly heard the crunch of bone cracking and the roar of the rancor coiling back in pain. The sound causing the other rancor's even the one the rider was upon to respond in fury.

The rancor's in the area reared up and then slammed their heavy bodies back down causing the ground to shake a little. As slam came down the rider held onto the beast it was upon. Tamsin herself stumbled forward but not to lose momentum she went into a forward roll. As she came out of the roll back to her feet, the rancor with the rider began to buck and spit as it charged forward.

It wasn't charging for her though it was charging for its wounded companion that Varin had started climbing on top of. There were three rancor's now charging towards the one with Varin climbing it. One of the three had a rider, two other rancor's, the one Tamsin had gutted and the one Varin had taken down earlier were dead or dying.

She shifted her momentum to change her direction slightly so she could catch the rancor with the rider head on. Her little legs up as she lift the sword above her head. She then leapt off the group pushing off with her left leg speed and force aid she lept high and into the air. Ready to come down with her sword on the rider.

A split second the rider and Tamsin dull orange eyes met. Those eyes were the same, those were her own eyes peering back at her. The riders hand lifted up into the air towards Tamsin as she came down. Tamsin with the black blade aimed true about to cleave the rider as a unfathomable force blast exploded from the rider's hand.

It slammed into her little body with such force it could crush bone. Tamsin went flying back with such force as her little body slammed through the stone wall. The wall shattered like glass as her body hit it. Shards shooting out in behind her onto the demarcate streets of what looked like a ruined city that seemed insanely large and labyrinthian.

Tamsin body hit the duracrete roads with a thud as it skidded across it sickenly in a heap. The black blade clanged as it bounced and then rolled across the streets of the city. The rider then lept off the rancor it was on as it and two other rancor's charged wildly towards the one Varin was riding. The rider taking off in a dead sprint toward the city, if Varin caught a glimpse of the rider he would swear he saw an identical copy of Tamsin herself just older.

Yet as the older Tamsin ran into the city a storm of fire began to erupt in the sky and the feeling of something else was coming. In the heap that was the real Tamsin a breath came to the lungs barely. But an audible sound came from them, a faint whisper but it carried through the wind to Varin's ears.

"This isn't a planet; this is a prison. It wants to break us." Pain and agony through those crippling words of the battered breaths of Tamsin's lips could be felt.

 

[Varin Mortifer]

VARIN MORTIFER

Equipment: Durum Mantle | Black Blade of Chandrila | Eye of The Dragon | Heavy Sith Mace | Cross Guard Broadsaber

Varin watched out of the corner of his eye as Tamsin leapt for a killing blow to the rider.

The legs Tamsin, go for the damned legs.

He repeated in his head, his gaze tore back to the lumbering Rancor that charged him unable to focus on Tamsin and her foe.

“Damn it!”

His armor deployed the spiked boots under his heels, digging into the rancors back as his clawed gauntlets hand gripped the upper eye socket of the beast, tearing his hands in one direction causing the beast to flail towards the charging giants.

“Could really use some support right now Ignati!”

Silence once again

The massive clawed hand carved down the face of one before another Rancor jammed its body into the side of the one Varin was riding, knocking him off its back and sending him to the ground with a heavy thud and scraping sounds as he slid.

He rolled with the momentum drawing his saber only to see the Rancor stop. They just stood there, as if waiting.

Then their group parted. Standing in the middle of them was a larger foe clad in heavy armor similar to Varins. A horned crown atop his head, the glowing white eyes that seemed to burn like phosphorus peering into him.

“Take up your arms son.”

Varin quickly stood up, activating his shield.

Then Tamsin's words reached him.

“Not my first time a prison tried to break me.”

He blinked, that was all it took when he felt a massive heavy gauntlets hand clash into his sternum, knocking the wind out of him. His father towering above him already had closed the distance as his executioner's blade hoisted up over head for a vertical strike.

Varin's shield came up just in time, the force of the blow forcing him to a knee as he stared up at his Fathers armored helm.

“This is where you belong child, kneeling in obedience.”

His Father's boot came in next, kicking him in the chest to knock him back down.

“Get up.”

Tamsin Starfall​

 

[Caelis Venn]

Tag: Efret Farr

Caelis did not answer immediately.
The silence between them stretched—not empty, but listening.
The Force shifted.
Not the calm, controlled current he held around himself—but something distant. Violent. A rupture. Like reality itself had been peeled back somewhere deep within the vault’s bones. It brushed against his awareness like a blade dragged lightly across skin.

His gaze drifted past her, unfocused for a moment.
Then returned.

“…We’re not alone in this convergence.”
His voice lowered, quieter now—not uncertainty, but calculation.
“There are others. Moving deeper. Disturbing things they don’t understand.”
A faint tightening at his jaw.
Not concern.
Recognition.
That was the nature of places like this. Power didn’t wait patiently to be claimed—it reacted. It tested. It devoured the careless.
And the ambitious.
Caelis took a slow step forward, the dust barely stirring beneath his boots.

“Which means whatever answer we were sent to find…”
A pause.
His eyes held hers now—sharper, more intent.
“…is already being contested.”
The air around him grew subtly heavier, the dark side coiling—not unleashed, but ready.
Controlled.
Deliberate.
A Sith, not an animal.
“Good.”
The word came softer than expected.
Not relief.
Approval.
“Answers forged under pressure tend to be the only ones worth taking.”
Another step. Closer now—not imposing, but undeniable.
“We move deeper,” he continued. “Not as two seekers chasing fragments…”
A slight tilt of his head.
“…but as a single point of pressure.”
A beat passed.
Then, quieter—something colder threading beneath the discipline:
“Let the others tear at the surface.”
His hand hovered near his hilt, not drawing—just acknowledging what would come.

“We’ll take what survives them.”
And beneath it all—faint, buried, unspoken—
A flicker.
A presence not here.
A voice that did not belong to the dark.
Caelis…
Gone as quickly as it came.
His expression didn’t change.
But the silence that followed felt sharper for it.

​

​

 

[Madrona A’Mia]

​

Tags: Delvin jeth & Ra'Shayne Vorr​

The air of mischief playing about A'Mia's features deepened at the way violence came easy to the cathar. She spread one long fingered hand in a gesture of acknowledgment, waving her on to do whatever she would and turned her attention to the man.

Similarly, he seemed right at home with doing whatever he must to seized the information he wanted. A'Mia was in good company then, particularly given how they were willing to risk their minds while she observed and took in data from the relative safety of the sidelines.

Both new companions went vacant from their bodies and A'Mia stretched her form taller, arms reaching wide to encompass the artifact they now explored psychically. Much like mycelia communicate in a forest, the neti branched out her senses as her physical form unfurled further. Tiny tendrils, no thicker than a hair and barely visible to the naked eye snaked from her planted feet, snaking toward the others to overlay them at places. The contact further allowed her to "ride on their wave" without endangering herself. Coasting along with them psychically, observing, and assuming none of the risk herself.

What a lovely day for discovery…

 

[Mercy]

OBJECTIVE: LEHON - INFINITE PRISON
TAG: Quinn Varanin
​

Mercy could not care less about a bunch of ancient decrepit minds stuck in a mental prison. Their wisdom didn't matter to her, because if it did, then Mercy wouldn't be free while they were stuck for millennia. This was a short-sighted view, but that was Mercy for you. She didn't see use in anything that didn't explode or allowed her to grab for more power.

Briefly she had mused with the option of visiting Chandaar, but almost immediately rejected that. It was too fresh right after Tion. She had no desire to open up even more wounds.

"We are coming around the prison's administrative tower." The large woman said over her shoulder as she engaged the automated controls and rose up from the pilot seat. She almost hit her head before remembering how low the cockpit was, hunching with a sigh. "I need the shipwrights of Kuat to make me a ship more fitting for an Empress of my stature."

Stature was literal in this case.

"While the others busy themselves with extracting knowledge from imprisoned sages, I want to do something else, Quinn." She said as she gestured for the Queen of Eshan to follow her towards the hangar bay.

"My scouts reported there is a control node at the top of the spire. Something that will give us the edge, if we decide to break Lehon and the Rakatan Empire around it."

Sadly they couldn't just land at the top.

They'd have to carve their way through automated defenses.

That could have consequences for Madrona A’Mia 's mission here, but Mercy was certain the gorgeous tree woman could handle any problem thrown her way.

"No mercy, darling, show me what a Sith Princess can do, yeah?" Checking Quinn's hip with her own, teasing her as the cargo doors opened of their transport.

 

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: Jedha

Equipment:
Apprentice Attire | Lightsaber | Shoto | Cybernetic Arm

The corridor should have continued, but it didn't. Instead, the stone gave way without warning and the weight of the ruins dissolved into something vast and open. Light filled the space ahead, steady and without source, woven through the air as though it belonged there more than anything that had come before it.

Ace slowed, and for the first time since entering the Kyber Heart, the pressure in the Force eased. At the center of the chamber, two small figures moved through the light.

Children. They were not quite solid, but neither were they insubstantial. Their forms held, defined by soft edges of radiance, features clear enough to recognize but not fixed. They moved easily and unafraid.

One of them noticed him first. A boy. He stilled, then turned fully, not startled or cautious. The girl followed a moment later. Neither of them reacted with fear, and that made Ace stop.

They looked at him the way Fatine had. As though they already knew him.

"You took a long time." The boy's voice was light.

Ace frowned slightly. "…Who are you?"

The two of them exchanged a glance, the kind shared without thought.

"We know you." The girl said. Then she stepped closer, studying him. "You're tired."

He didn't answer. The boy moved around him, slower than Fatine had been, but with the same absence of hesitation. His attention settled briefly on Ace's prosthetic hand. He reached out and touched it without fear or uncertainty, only familiarity. Ace didn't pull away.

"Why do you keep going where we can't follow?" The question came simply.

"You shouldn't be here." Ace said.

The girl tilted her head. "We're supposed to be."

Ace's gaze shifted between them. There was something there. Not resemblance, not quite, but there was recognition. It came without explanation, settling into him in a way that did not require understanding. The future. Not possibility.

"You don't understand." He said.

"Then tell us." The boy replied.

Ace didn't. Instead, he glanced once at the light around them, then back to the two figures standing before him.

"When this ends..." He said, voice steady. "...there won't be anything left like this."

The boy frowned, wrinkling his nose. "Like what?"

"Safe."

The word sat heavily between them. The girl's expression shifted, uncertain.

"You don't know that."

"I do. That's why I'm here."

Silence followed and the children didn't argue. They only watched him. The boy spoke again, quieter this time.

"Will you come back?"

The question landed harder than anything that had come before it. Ace held their gaze, then slowly shook his head.

"Not yet."

The girl stepped closer. "We've been waiting."

Something pulled at him again, stronger, and he forced it down.

"You won't have to..." He said.

The boy tilted his head. "Why?"

Ace's expression hardened, not outwardly, but in the way his presence closed in on itself.

"Because I'm making sure you don't grow up in something that needs you to."

The justification settled into place and the decision with it. The children didn't react the way he expected, they didn't agree or argue.They only stood there, looking at him. Seeing him. The light around them began to recede, not abruptly, but as though the moment itself had reached its end.

The girl spoke once more, softer now. "Don't be late."

The boy added, almost absently. "We'll still be there."

Then they were gone too. The chamber fell into that familiar quiet again, the light fading back into the cold stillness of the ruins. Ace stood there for a long moment.

Then he turned and continued on.​

 

[Meliant]

​

From somewhere high above them, a corpse came crashing down. Meliant sensed its approach and came to a halt. It smashed into the floor somewhere behind him - closer to Eurydice, he reckoned - and it did so with such violence that it exploded. ​

​

Meliant felt the fine spray of blood impact his cloak and the back of his head. He grunted like a man slightly inconvenienced and brushed his fingers over the back of his helmet, examining the fine layer of blood that came away with them.​

​

"What a pain in my ass. I can't do anything without..."​

​

He trailed off, interrupted by the sound of the most pitiful dry-heaving to ever reach his phantom ears. Meliant turned to see Eurydice had found a corner and was trying to vomit. Incredible. She couldn't even do that right.​

​

Meliant joined her shortly, sticking the sword-point into the ground again and squatting to her level.​

​

"Stumpy, my friend," he said, "I need you to lock-in."​

​

Looking idly up towards where the corpse had fallen from, he added, "If you can't dig deep and find the Dark Side and do something with it, a big lizard will eat you. Feet first, probably. It won't be great."​

​

"Ah-ah. Don't start crying. Chin up. I know him. He sucks at everything. So... You could probably outfox him. You just have to want it." Empty eyes settled back on Eurydice. "Do you want to live, or what?"​

Eurydice Ziso Kus Krasskorr the Maw​

 

[Anet Raine]

Mellia Raine
​

Anet gave her sibling a silent, scrutinizing stare through the mask. The latent power had not escaped her notice. Of course, any eye contact returned might cause Mell to experience that unnatural dread - one of the mask's several traits beyond serving as a vessel for the acolyte's power.

When Mell asked her for answers, Anet sighed impatiently. "We're looking for a Rakatan databank..." That wasn't exactly true. She didn't know what form this information took, only that it was (allegedly) found within the central structure.

She heard the distant sounds of fighting, further in the jungle. That was when she sensed him, their 'Golden Boy,' one of Mercy's apprentices. 'Good,' she thought. He could fight animals for all she cared. If nothing else, it might slow him down and give her a head start.

"Come on!" She called her sister along and descended the path at a brisk pace towards the ruins.

She was able to avoid trouble on the way down, but when they arrived, she was faced with a more difficult obstacle. A broken bridge... and it was all that stood between them and their destination, a large tower.

"Shit!" She seethed.

The acolyte considered her play. Yes, she could summon the power needed to fold space and teleport them both across, but that would leave her considerably spent. She looked back over her shoulder. "Now's the time to prove to me you're not useless, Mell. Help me find a way across!"

 

[Krasskorr the Maw]

FOOD: Ziso Kus Eurydice Meliant

​

The dull, heavy thud of the corpse hitting the lower floor was music to Krasskorr's ears, quickly followed by the pitiful sounds of Eurydice , who likely wished they were on a talent show instead of being splattered with the remains of an assassin. The deception had unfolded perfectly. From the jagged hole in the floor, the scent of fresh blood rose, mingling with the unmistakable, arrogant odor of Meliant that lingered beneath the coppery layer.

Fueled by an uncontrollable rage, the Saurton disregarded the need for a staircase or a wider passage. The most direct route to Meliant's throat was a straight line. With a fierce growl, Krasskorr lunged forward, driving his heavily armored head and broad shoulders into the jagged opening created by his previous assault.

The sudden halt of his forward motion was jarring and far from graceful. The ancient stone scraped against his battered gorget and heavy shoulder plates. Krasskorr flailed his massive, clawed feet, his tail thrashing against the corridor walls in frustration, yet the limitations of his own size betrayed his fury. The opening was ample enough for a human body, but insufficient for a three-ton reptilian giant like him.

For a few excruciating moments, the fearsome apex predator found himself hopelessly trapped in the floorboards, akin to a bloated womp rat stuck in a drainpipe. A muffled, furious roar reverberated through the stone, resonating down into the lower tunnel. If the laws of physics and architecture refused to bend, Krasskorr would simply shatter them.

"Rrrnnngh!" He pressed his massive claws against the edges of the constricted space, channeling the energy of the Dark Side into his core. With every muscle in his thick neck and heavily armored back tensed, he pushed against the bottleneck, exerting the full weight of his three-ton frame.

With a resounding crack that echoed through the air, the ceiling collapsed. A torrent of sharp obsidian shards, twisted iron, and duracrete cascaded downwards, and Krasskorr found himself engulfed in a chaotic landslide of rubble.

He crashed onto the lower walkway with the force of a falling boulder, his body hitting the cold stone floor face-first, creating a shockwave that reverberated through the tunnel. A thick cloud of dust and ash erupted from the impact, enveloping the crouched Meliant and the girl nearby.

Slowly, the massive Saurton pushed himself up. He shook his heavy head, a dull ringing in his ears, and unceremoniously spat a mouthful of ancient dust onto the floor. Standing to his full, towering height, Krasskorr casually brushed a chunk of shattered stone and a stray piece of his former meat-shield off his matte-black pauldron. He rolled his broad shoulders, the armor plates grinding ominously.

 

[Quinn Varanin]

//: Mercy //:
//: Lehon //:
//: Disclaimer: The Phobis Device can be felt by everyone //:

It had been some time since Quinn had been in the field. In most cases, her place was at the table with a group of delegates who enjoyed hearing themselves talk. Quite often, they offered her riches and companionship if she swayed with them, told the Sith to look elsewhere.

But she was just a decoy, a face to distract and to soften. No one expected her to be a weapon of the Empire…

She hated it.

Arriving with Mercy, she had hoped they would be able to dig into the minds of the sages here. Their minds could hold the key to what she was looking for… an element of her freedom. Mercy, on the other hand, had other plans, and Quinn had to pivot. Frowning slightly as the woman stood from the pilot's chair, Quinn realized the knowledge she sought would not be hers to claim.

Still, to be useful to Mercy was a privilege she often didn't see past their private matters. The need to prove herself was of her own doing. Mercy seemed quite content to have the Echani at her side.

"A control node?" Quinn questioned as her heels tapped quickly behind Mercy in an attempt to keep up with the woman's long strides.

"I'm assuming it does exactly what it's described as, a weapon of control? Or is there more to it?"

A part of her wondered if it was like the Mimban crystal her parents had captured and claimed for themselves. There was a rumor that one of Ashin's old battleships had a throne like the one on Mimban that could amplify Spencer's mentalism.

From her understanding of her parents' relationship… that's where everything started. Ashin saw Spencer as a weapon to be molded. Quinn looked to Mercy and wondered if the woman's thoughts were similar to Ashin's.

They were too alike in that manner.

The hip check pulled Quinn from her thoughts as she smiled softly. Mercy's playful nature was always welcomed.

"I'm no longer a Princess, Knave." Her hand brushed aside her white blonde hair as she smirked smugly.

"I'm a Queen. Best start treating me as such." A devilish little smirk with her lips curling in mischief as she finished.

As much as she played with the woman, the thought of what was being asked churned her stomach, upsetting every fiber of her being. Mercy wanted to see a monster… the monster that she often suppressed.

The words of the Jedi lingered in her mind, their interrogation still fresh in her mind. She let her smile falter just for a moment as she felt, through the Force, the living that lingered as they left the transport. There were hundreds of them. Quinn wondered if she could handle this many, and hopefully not harm them as badly as Mercy might have wanted to.

She focused quietly as she turned her attention back towards the Empress of the Core.

"It will take a bit, but I can create you an opening… as long as you watch my back…" It didn't need to be said; Quinn knew Mercy would protect her.

She was useful.

Exhaling softly, Quinn focused on the device, the Core that sat firmly woven tightly with her soul. Each minute that passed as she stood at the door separating the two of them and the rest of the facility, the air thickened, weighing down the area. She slowly released the miasma of darkness and dread, and thick black fog seeped from her parted blood-red lips.

It gathered at their feet, then slowly slipped through the cracks in the door and began to slither, filling the space with its horrid, rancid presence. Quinn no longer felt like Quinn; she was the entity that Mercy would have felt on Coruscant.

As the smoke continued to billow into the room, cries of pure agony began to echo, blasters fired — shooting at illusions of horror. She could feel their minds twisting, bending, and breaking under the influence of the Core. Quinn didn't want it; she hated it, but she created chaos in the rooms beyond, giving Mercy a playground to terrorize.

Through the Force, Quinn would press her influence against Mercy, fueling her and giving her a wellspring of dark energy to feed off of.

"Go. I'll be behind you…" she spoke quietly, giving Mercy the signal that it was her time to play…

 

[Mercy]

Quinn Varanin

"A control node?" Quinn questioned as her heels tapped quickly behind Mercy in an attempt to keep up with the woman's long strides.

"I'm assuming it does exactly what it's described as, a weapon of control? Or is there more to it?"

"I don't know," Mercy said honestly as she yanked open the cargo doors and peered down at the landing platform beneath them. "Someone decided to murder our Triumvir of Lore, so I am kinda flying blind." She really wanted to throttle Arris Windrun right about now, because in the past she simply would have flicked Vestra Tane over the head and made her do some research about this boring topic or that, avoiding having to do it herself.

"From what I gathered so far it doesn't seem like a weapon though. More... administrative, I think, but what the fuck that means, I don't know."

The lore had spoken about a Sovereign's place. Which to her sounded like the controlling mechanism of the prison, which would explain why this place was so well-defended and also further away from the mind-prison that Madrona A’Mia and her people were currently infiltrating. But she didn't try to pretend she understood the ravings of text that had been written down generations ago.

The touch of Quinn's mind moving past her and into the spire didn't go unnoticed by Mercy. Unlike some, it didn't really bother her. She had experience with it before but primarily she wasn't a mentalist.

Her mind was simultaneously open and closed.

Open to direct interference if someone cared enough to try. Closed from picking up signs that were spinning around her, but weren't directly applied to her.

"A Queen should dirty her hands, darling." Mercy said as the ship settled down on the platform and the large warrior stepped out. "You should feel the blood on your skin and their flesh on your teeth."

The request for protection went unanswered, because it need no response. It went without saying that Mercy would cover her back while her mind sped off into the distance and begin to raise havoc. She stretched, throwing her cloak back into the shuttle, rolling her shoulders afterwards to warm up a touch.

She could already hear the screaming and the chaos of blaster fire.

"Right now you are using your mind, it's very personal... very intimate, I suppose. But your body remains clean. That degree of separation in acts of carnal destruction is unhealthy."

Mercy went to one side of the platform... and casually ripped one of the light pillars from its hinges and then looked towards the entrance.

"When body and mind work in unison... you will know your place in the world."

As if to demonstrate it, the Empress did not hesitate as she suddenly threw the metal contraption towards the door. Any other Sith it might have embedded itself in the doors or maybe cause them to rip inward to give them an entrance. But in Mercy's hands, its velocity was magnified tenfold and when it hit the door?

It exploded, turning duracrete and metal into shrapnel and dust, as part of the face of the spire disintegrated by sheer kinetic transfer.

"And that is all that really matters." Mercy said absently while watching the destruction. Parts of the duracrete started to fall down. "Knowing who and what you are. Knowing where you belong and what your purpose in life is."

She glanced over her shoulder.

"Shall we?"

 

[Arris Windrun]

Nilira Vornix
​

Arris hadn't time to consider the acolyte's peculiar change in attitude. Still, it was a bit unsettling to see Nilira wearing a wide grin just moments before reaching the bottom.

It was a hard, sudden landing that sent Arris into an uncontrolled roll. She groaned as her body smashed into something hard, coming to an abrupt stop. "Ugh..." The Talusian groaned and stood up. "Well, that was fun," she said dryly while dusting herself off.

"Are you oka--" Arris looked one way, then another, then turned a full circle, and then up. Nilira was nowhere to be found.

Worse still, it wasn't the same room. She was in a hallway. 'Literally how?!' She thought to herself.

Thankfully, her cybernetic eyes worked passably in the darkness even without her chemlight. She was able to make out the vague boundaries of the space. But Nilira's absence and the sudden change of scenery concerned her.

"Hello?" Arris called out as she walked down the hallway. "Nilira..."

Something began to disquiet her feelings. Then, there was a flash of light, followed by a tumbling, invisible wave. It smashed into her like a swoop bike in second gear. For a split second, her eyes went back, and when she came to, there was light. Fire. A large, burning tree, and the sound of thunderous applause and drunken cheers. She supported herself, one hand on the corpse of a fleshly slain vornskr.

Her eyes snapped to the left at the urge of a loud, ringing gunshot. Shards of crystal--like shrapnel--scattered through the air. A few of the pieces dug deep into her arm, which came up just in time to protect her face. When she looked past it, she saw a lifeless but familiar face: Vagabond - and standing before him, broken and terrified, was herself from that time.

Arris did not know what to make of it. Visions and mystical experiences were of no interest to her. Hell, she struggled to even believe in sorcery and the like, despite being a Sith Lord herself. To call it unsettling was an understatement, and when she, the other 'Arris', looked her way, the Triumvir froze as if every servo in her body had been iced.

The killer, that fighter who made herself on Ruusan, turned the slugthrower against her... and pulled the trigger.

When Nilira finally reached the bottom, she'd find the cyborg face down in the sand and dust, beside the cracked chemlight.

 

[Ra'Shayne Vorr]

LAHONA | MIND PRISON
TAG: Madrona A’Mia Delvin jeth
​

The portal yawned open and Ra'Shayne found herself in yet another void and she felt the strangest feeling. Despite being able to feel the mind of the ratakan, and knowing that his accumulated knowledge was just at the periphery of her reach, he did not care that she was here... nobody did. Noone was watching her, nobody even acknowledged that Darth Equinox even existed.

This tore at the Cathar's vainful persona, she felt a hollowness that the universe would pass without her and it was only just bareable. She let out a scream in anger, the universe WOULD hear her call, and it would remember her. But nothing replied back, and if anything it simply pushed the feeling of irrelevance deeper. Was this her new eternity?

But then she felt it, just a hint, like tendrils or roots wrapping around her fingers. She looked at her hand and saw track marks where the roots connected with her physical body. Someone was watching. It wasnt much, but that sliver if vanity allowed the woman to center herself and the void began to fill to ghostly apparitions of the Ratakan's memories. She was finally not alone, the prison would not keep her.

 

[Tamsin Starfall]

Theme: Welcome To The Jungle
Tags: Varin Mortifer

Her breath heaved up and down, she felt like every bone in her body was shattered. She felt like she was just a bag of flesh lying on a city street. She was very much alive but wishing she was dead. The pain had flooded her nerves so much she now just felt cold and numb. Laying there wish she was dead, having come to the realization that in this place she could not die.

Yet there was a weird peace to the mind prison, a peace she had never felt as she laid there. There was no voice in her mind, it was only her and her thoughts. It made her wonder for a moment who was she really. Without the demon in her she could be whatever she wanted. Yet she did not know what she wanted….

"Sister…" Her lips muttered in a hushed whisper.

She wanted her sister, the one person she knew for sure gave a damn about her. No, it was more than that. It was more than her sister, she wanted at her side. She wanted to be like her sister, strong a warrior of pure tenacity. Her sister would not give up, would not let this prison break her.

Outside the mind prison laid Tamsin body breathing, the mind gone but the brain still doing what did on auto mode keeping the body alive. It was an empty vessel both Tamsin's mind and the demon's mind stuck in the prison. The lungs moving the chest up and down in a rhythmic motion as if it was just asleep.

Then a jolt of dark energy from the Phobias device that Quinn Varanin had started up shot into Tamsin small mindless body. The Dark Energy surging through it activating the Dathomiri runes that had been invisibly etched on her insides when the Mad Witch made her.

Contingency plans if anything were to go wrong with the mad witches' plans. The Mad witch had long designed Tamsin to be her perfect vessel,
meticulous planning down to the atoms that made up the body.

The runes triggered, first to try and revive the mind and body but nothing happened. The Body outside the mind prison convulsed and twitched like it was struggling to move and get up. It screamed out into the void for the mind to return but nothing came back. Then it triggered deeper into the twin souls of Tamsin and the Demon.

The Soul that connected mind and body, in Tamsin a twin soul of her and her creator. Though the creator soul was not it did not matter. The phobias energy in the runes pumped in the soul lighting a bridge. Between the souls, the minds, and the one body.

Tamsin laid there a lump in the mind prison, think about who she was. As she felt it a spark, then a surge as the mad witch that ran off into the city got pulled back into her. The lump in the mind prison twisted and contorted as bones and fused back together and snapped back into place.

The two minds were now one connected to the body by the bridge of the soul. The fake body in the prison pushed itself off the ground. Standing upright and behind it, it could hear the voice of some yelling at Varin. Telling him to kneel in obedience.

The little witch turned and looked at the two giants clashing as the Rancor's ran off. Then her left hand reached out as if through the aether as it turned ghostly. Her eyes flared a vibrant fiery orange burning like twin suns in the center of her face. Her teeth gritted.

As she did her real body sat up just then and looked over to Varin Mortifer 's body. It placed a hand on the chest and violet Ichor exploded from it. As it flood the same magick that had used her soul as bridge into him attempting to do the same thing to bring Ignati back to Varin in the mind prison.

"WE DO NOT KNEEL!" The rebellious shattering force scream from her lips as she stared down the giant standing over Varin.

 

[Mellia Raine]

Anet Raine​

Rakatan Databank. Alright, fine, whatever - Mellia was too busy trying not to tear her coat on the local flora to question her sister's goals any further. The answer was entirely plausible, given their location and the Sith obsession with old, dead civilizations.

For a short stint of the journey there was relatively little for the darksider to say - there were only so many hideous lizard-things you could see skittering in the foliage before they lost their charm, after all. Eventually, though, the underbrush gave way to a chasm, and the hideous lizards to -

Ugh.

A broken bridge and a wide chasm, too wide for her to leap over, and -

The acolyte considered her play. Yes, she could summon the power needed to fold space and teleport them both across, but that would leave her considerably spent. She looked back over her shoulder. "Now's the time to prove to me you're not useless, Mell. Help me find a way across!"

And Anet giving her lip. She gave her sibling a skeptical look. What was she supposed to do? Con someone into fixing the bridge?

She was about to snipe at the Sithly-er Raine, when it struck her that that actually wasn't a terrible idea she'd had. There weren't any people nearby to rope in, at least none that Mell felt confident in controlling, but animals were simple, far simpler than the sapients she'd sharpened her skills on, and though it had never occurred to her to try, surely seizing one's mind couldn't be more complicated than -

Mellia sat down at the edge of the chasm which had so thwarted her sister, and exhaled. Her awareness expanded, spreading like a gaseous poison, until she brushed up against the minds of everything around her. Her darling sister, of course, but also the wildlife in the brush...and in the air.

She scanned, browsing through Lehon's index of carnivorous monsters until she found one which suited her purposes; a great scale-winged scavenger, circling above the nearby combat to pick at the ensuing remains. Her mind coiled around its, like a leash, like a noose. There wasn't even an ego to crush; she beckoned the creature down, towards the bridge, towards her, and it complied, compelled by urges it had no means to understand.

The thing that Mellia had brought down was an ugly lizard-bird-thing, with a wide and ungainly body and a large, leathery wings more than thrice the span of its torso. The hybrid looked at it with more than a little disgust, but...

Hell, if it worked, it worked.

"Not exactly a luxury speeder," She took a hand, and, with a small exertion, hauled herself across the thing's back. Was there a way for her to sit side-saddle, here? No, probably not - it would interfere with the wings. "But it'll have to do."

 

[Varin Mortifer]

VARIN MORTIFER

Equipment: Durum Mantle | Black Blade of Chandrila | Eye of The Dragon | Heavy Sith Mace | Cross Guard Broadsaber

Massive gauntleted fist slammed into the side of his helmet faceplate, knocking the helm off his head and onto the ground with a metallic scrape, sparks spitting from its edges.

The side of Varin's head dripped with warm crimson as his vision blurred. Just beyond his grasp was the hilt of his saber, laying in wait for his hand. He was now laying on his chest as droplets of blood dripped onto the ground. His hand slowly stretching towards the hilt, before a massive armored boot stomped on his hand.

A yell of pain escaped from his throat then he felt cold edged metal touch the back of his neck.

“You're no Sith, boy. You're not even a Mortifer.”

The force scream came out of nowhere, drawing the attention of Lord Mortifer as he slowly turned to meet the Soundwave head on. His cloak blasted behind him as wind stirred around his body, his forearm covering over his eyes as he stood his ground.

The relief of pressure on Varin's arm allowed him to pull it closer to him, a grunt leaving his body as he slowly picked himself up.

The heavy impacts that rattled his body previously still held weight over him, the pain that thudded and pounded within his bones.

A surge of energy pressed right into his body causing his back to stiffen. A feeling of something clicked into place within his very being.

Connection…

The runes surged brightly within his body as wind snapped around him, his father slowly turned to look at him, ready to strike once more as he guarded himself from the force scream.

“I kneel to no one!”

His voice erupted from his throat shaking the ground around them, his voice releasing in a booming roar that sounded inhuman, primal.

A voice that was not his.

The sun above them bled red as the waves of sound slammed into his Father, his armor cracking, then shattering.

Tamsin Starfall​